U.S. patent application number 13/707773 was filed with the patent office on 2014-06-12 for method and apparatus pertaining to gestures with respect to a stylus.
This patent application is currently assigned to RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED. The applicant listed for this patent is RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED. Invention is credited to Jacek S. IDZIK, Peter MANKOWSKI, Cornel MERCEA.
Application Number | 20140160087 13/707773 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50880454 |
Filed Date | 2014-06-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140160087 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MERCEA; Cornel ; et
al. |
June 12, 2014 |
Method and Apparatus Pertaining to Gestures with Respect to a
Stylus
Abstract
An apparatus and method pertaining to detecting a user's
gesture(s) with respect to a stylus and the wireless transmission
of information regarding that gesture. The detected gesture can
comprise, for example, movement of a user's finger along the stylus
and/or displacement of a user's finger from contact with the
stylus.
Inventors: |
MERCEA; Cornel; (Waterloo,
CA) ; MANKOWSKI; Peter; (Waterloo, CA) ;
IDZIK; Jacek S.; (Kenilworth, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED |
Waterloo |
|
CA |
|
|
Assignee: |
RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED
Waterloo
CA
|
Family ID: |
50880454 |
Appl. No.: |
13/707773 |
Filed: |
December 7, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
345/179 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/03545 20130101;
G06F 3/0383 20130101; G06F 3/03547 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/179 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/033 20060101
G06F003/033 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: by a control circuit for a stylus:
detecting a user's gesture with respect to the stylus; wirelessly
transmitting information regarding the gesture.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the user's gesture with
respect to the stylus comprises, at least in part, detecting
movement of a user's finger along the stylus.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein detecting movement of a user's
finger along the stylus comprises, at least in part, detecting
movement of the user's finger along the stylus using, at least in
part, a plurality of electrically-conductive sensors.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the user's gesture with
respect to the stylus comprises, at least in part, detecting a
user's finger when displaced from contact with the stylus.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein detecting the user's finger when
displaced from contact with the stylus comprises, at least in part,
detecting movement of the user's finger.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein detecting movement of the user's
finger comprises, at least in part, detecting the movement of the
user's finger using, at least in part, at least one optical-based
sensor.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: detecting at least one
stylus operating circumstance; and wherein wirelessly transmitting
the information regarding the gesture comprises, at least in part,
also wirelessly transmitting information regarding the stylus
operating circumstance.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the stylus operating circumstance
comprises, at least in part, an angle of inclination of the
stylus.
9. A stylus comprising: a stylus barrel; at least one user sensor
supported by the stylus barrel configured to detect a user's
gesture with respect to the stylus barrel; a wireless transmitter
supported by the stylus barrel; a control circuit supported by the
stylus barrel and operably coupled to both the at least one user
sensor and the wireless transmitter, the control circuit configured
to respond to detection of a user's gesture with respect to the
stylus barrel by wirelessly transmitting information regarding the
gesture via the wireless transmitter.
10. The stylus of claim 9 wherein the at least one user sensor is
configured to detect a user's gesture comprising movement of a
user's finger along the stylus barrel.
11. The stylus of claim 10 wherein the at least one user sensor
comprises a plurality of electrically-conductive sensors disposed
along the stylus barrel in a spaced relationship to one
another.
12. The stylus of claim 9 wherein the at least one user sensor
comprises at least one optical-based sensor.
13. The stylus of claim 12 wherein the at least one optical-based
sensor comprises an image-capture component.
14. The stylus of claim 9 wherein the control circuit is further
configured to detect at least one stylus operating circumstance and
including information regarding the stylus operating circumstance
when wirelessly transmitting the information regarding the
gesture.
15. The stylus of claim 14 wherein the stylus operating
circumstance comprises, at least in part, an angle of inclination
of the stylus.
Description
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
[0001] The present disclosure relates to styli employed as a user
interface to a corresponding electronic device.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Various styli are known and typically serve in conjunction
with a scribing surface that is configured to work with a
corresponding stylus. Generally speaking, a stylus is typically a
hand-held writing utensil that often (but not exclusively) has a
pencil-like elongated form factor and that includes at least one
pointed end configured to interact with the scribing surface. Using
a stylus as an input mechanism with, for example, a display offers
a variety of advantages over a fingertip including the opportunity
for increased precision as well as an expression modality that
accords with the user's own past experience with a pencil or
pen.
[0003] In most cases such a stylus can at least serve to cause a
display of a so-called electronic-ink line that tracks and
corresponds to movement of the stylus on the scribing surface. Such
an input modality permits the user to enter text, for example, or
to draw an image.
[0004] In some cases the stylus can also be manipulated to effect a
so-called gesture. For example, the stylus tip can be tapped once,
twice, or more as desired on a particular portion of the scribing
surface to, for example, select or click upon a displayed virtual
button or the like. As another example the scribing tip of the
stylus can be slide along the surface of the scribing surface (for
purposes other than drawing a corresponding line). As yet another
example, the scribing surface may be configured to detect when the
stylus is raised a short distance thereabove and to interpret such
an action (at least under some operating circumstances) as a
corresponding gesture.
[0005] As useful as the foregoing stylus-based user-interface
modalities may be, existing approaches in these regards do not
necessarily meet the needs of all users and/or the needs of all
application settings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram in accordance with the
disclosure.
[0007] FIG. 2 is a block diagram in accordance with the
disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 3 is a detail side-elevational view in accordance with
the disclosure.
[0009] FIG. 4 is a detail side-elevational view in accordance with
the disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 5 is a detail side-elevational view in accordance with
the disclosure.
[0011] FIG. 6 is a detail side-elevational view in accordance with
the disclosure.
[0012] FIG. 7 is a detail side-elevational view in accordance with
the disclosure.
[0013] FIG. 8 is a block diagram in accordance with the
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] The following describes an apparatus and method pertaining
to detecting a user's gesture(s) with respect to a stylus and the
wireless transmission of information regarding that gesture. The
detected gesture can comprise, for example, movement of a user's
finger along the stylus and/or displacement of a user's finger from
contact with the stylus.
[0015] These teachings will accommodate a variety of detection
approaches. By one approach, for example, the stylus can include a
plurality of electrically-conductive sensors (including, by way of
example, capacitively-based sensors) that serve in these regards.
By another approach, employed in lieu of the foregoing or in
combination therewith, movement of the user's finger(s) with
respect to the stylus can be detected using, at least in part, one
or more optical-based sensor.
[0016] These teachings are also highly flexible in practice. As one
example in these regards, the foregoing gesture information can be
wirelessly transmitted along with other information. This other
information can include, for example, information regarding one or
more stylus operating circumstances (such as, but not limited to, a
present angle of inclination of the stylus, rotation of the stylus
about its longitudinal axis, and so forth).
[0017] So configured, simple and conveniently executed gestures
between the user's finger(s) and the stylus can serve as
gesture-based information that the stylus provides to the scribing
surface to thereby further enrich the information-entry process.
For example, while drawing a picture with the stylus, sliding-based
gestures (of a finger along the barrel of the stylus, for example)
can serve to conveniently and quickly permit the user to control
the rendered line thickness of the corresponding electronic-ink
line. As another example, such gestures can permit the user to
easily select and control the color of the corresponding
electronic-ink line.
[0018] These teachings are readily employed with any of a wide
variety of stylus types including, but not limited to,
capacitively-based styli, acoustically-based non-passive styli,
magnetically-based non-passive styli, light-emitting-based
non-passive styli, camera-based non-passive styli,
radio-frequency-based non-passive styli, and so forth.
[0019] For simplicity and clarity of illustration, reference
numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate
corresponding or analogous elements. Numerous details are set forth
to provide an understanding of the embodiments described herein.
The embodiments may be practiced without these details. In other
instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not
been described in detail to avoid obscuring the embodiments
described. The description is not to be considered as limited to
the scope of the embodiments described herein.
[0020] FIG. 1 presents a process 100 that accords at least in part
with many of these teachings. For the sake of an illustrative
example it will be presumed here that a control circuit for a
stylus carries out this process 100. Again for the purpose of
illustration and without intending any limitations in these
regards, FIG. 2 presents an example of such a stylus 200. In
particular, in this example, the stylus 200 includes a stylus
barrel 201 that contains (at least in part) the aforementioned
control circuit 202. In a typical application setting this stylus
barrel 201 has a pen or pencil-like form factor and is shaped and
configured to be comfortably grasped and manipulated by a user's
hand.
[0021] Styli barrels are well known in the art. As the present
teachings are not overly sensitive to any particular selections in
these regards, further elaboration regarding styli barrels is not
provided here for the sake of brevity.
[0022] The control circuit 202 can comprise a fixed-purpose
hard-wired platform or can comprise a partially or wholly
programmable platform. These architectural options are well known
and understood in the art and require no further description here.
This control circuit 202 is configured (for example, by using
corresponding programming as will be well understood by those
skilled in the art) to carry out one or more of the steps, actions,
and/or functions described herein.
[0023] By one optional approach the control circuit 202 operably
couples to a memory 203. This memory 203 may be integral to the
control circuit 202 or can be physically discrete (in whole or in
part) from the control circuit 202 as desired. This memory 203 can
serve, for example, to non-transitorily store the computer
instructions that, when executed by the control circuit 202, cause
the control circuit 202 to behave as described herein. (As used
herein, this reference to "non-transitorily" will be understood to
refer to a non-ephemeral state for the stored contents (and hence
excludes when the stored contents merely constitute signals or
waves) rather than volatility of the storage media itself and hence
includes both non-volatile memory (such as read-only memory (ROM)
as well as volatile memory (such as an erasable programmable
read-only memory (EPROM).)
[0024] In this illustrative example the control circuit 202 also
operably couples to one or more user sensors 204 and a wireless
transmitter 206. The user sensor 204 is also supported by the
stylus barrel 201 and is configured to detect at least one user's
gesture with respect to the stylus barrel 201. By one approach, for
example, the user sensor 204 can comprise one or more
electrically-conductive sensors (including but not limited to
capacitively-based sensors as are known in the art) and/or one or
more optical-based sensors (including but not limited to an
image-capture component such as a camera oriented to capture images
of part or all of the user's hand and/or one or more fingers or
thumb). (As used herein the expression "user sensor" will be
understood to not comprise a mere button, slide switch, or the
like.)
[0025] The aforementioned wireless transmitter 206 can also be
supported by the stylus barrel. This wireless transmitter 206 can
employ a radio-frequency carrier or an optical carrier (such as an
infra-red carrier) as desired. Generally speaking, for most
application settings this wireless transmitter 206 need only
support a short-range technology (such as, but not limited to, the
BLUETOOTH.TM. standard or the unlicensed cordless-microphone
spectrum). A short-range approach will suffice for many application
settings as the distance between the stylus 200 and its
corresponding scribing surface/stylus sensor is usually on the
order of less than only a very few inches.
[0026] If desired, the stylus 200 may also optionally include a
stylus operating circumstance sensor 205 that also operably couples
to the control circuit 202. An example of a stylus operating
circumstance sensor 205 includes, for example, an accelerometer, a
tilt detector, and so forth. So configured, the control circuit 202
can be configured to detect one or more stylus operating
circumstances (such as, but not limited to, an angle of inclination
of the stylus 200, rotation of the stylus 200 about its
longitudinal axis, and so forth).
[0027] With continued reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, such a control
circuit 202 can, at 101, detect a user's gesture with respect to
the stylus 200. The present teachings are highly flexible in these
regards and will accommodate a wide variety of user gestures.
[0028] When the user sensors 204 include a plurality of
capacitively-sensitive sensors 302 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for
example, the detected gesture can comprise movement of the user's
finger 301 along the stylus barrel 201. By one approach this
gesture might comprise moving the finger 301 from a
forwardly-disposed position to a rearwardly-disposed position. By
another approach, the complete gesture might comprise first moving
the finger 301 rearwardly (as shown) and then subsequently sliding
the finger 301 forwardly along the stylus barrel 201 (all within
some predetermined period of time, such as 0.5 seconds, 1.0 second,
2.0 seconds, or some other duration of choice).
[0029] As another non-limiting example in these regards, when the
user sensor 204 includes at least one image-capture component the
gesture can comprise a lifting of the user's finger 301 from the
stylus barrel 201 followed by a traversal of the finger 301 along
an arcuate (in this case, essentially circular) path as illustrated
in FIGS. 5-7. In this illustrative example the path of the finger
301 remains at least substantially in-line with the stylus barrel
201. These teachings will readily accommodate other approaches in
these regards, however. For example, the circular path traced by
the finger 301 could be at least substantially orthogonal to the
longitudinal axis of the stylus barrel 201.
[0030] Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, this process 100 will optionally
accommodate at 102, if desired, detecting at least one stylus
operating circumstance (using, for example, the aforementioned
optional stylus operating circumstance sensor 205). As one simple,
non-limiting example in these regards, the detected stylus
operating circumstance could comprise, at least in part, an angle
of inclination of the stylus 200 (with respect to, for example, the
scribing surface upon which the stylus 200 moves). Where a given
gesture might indicate that a line thickness is to change, the tilt
of the stylus 200 could serve, for example, to indicate an amount
by which the line thickness is to increase or decrease (either in
absolute terms or in relative terms as desired).
[0031] At 103 the control circuit 202 wirelessly transmits
information regarding the detected gesture. When the control
circuit 202 has also detected at least one stylus operating
circumstance as described above, by one approach this transmission
of information can also include wirelessly transmitting information
regarding that detected stylus operating circumstance along with
(or separate from, as desired) the information regarding the
detected gesture.
[0032] By one approach the transmitted information can represent a
completed detected gesture. By another approach, if desired, the
transmitted information can represent only a partial gesture (such
as the beginning of a gesture, the middle of a gesture, the
conclusion of a gesture, and so forth). Accordingly, depending upon
the needs of a given application setting these teachings will
accommodate having the stylus control circuit 202 completely
identify a "gesture" and accordingly pass along via the
aforementioned transmission an identified gesture signal (rather
than the raw information regarding the physical aspects of the
gesture itself). In such a case, and by way of an illustrative
example, the control circuit 202 can transmit a message such as
"increase line thickness" rather than a message such as "user
finger has completed sliding backwards by at least one inch."
[0033] Referring to FIG. 8, a given electronic device 800 can be
configured to receive and utilize the aforementioned transmission.
Such a device 800 can include its own control circuit 801 that
operably couples to a memory 802, a stylus sensor 803, a display
804, and a wireless receiver 805. The stylus sensor 803 can serve,
for example, to detect and track the stylus's contact with and
movement across a given scribing surface. The control circuit 801
can then provide a corresponding presentation of electronic ink on
the display 804 that correlates to that tracked contact/movement.
Such practices are very well known in the art. Accordingly, further
elaboration in these regards here will not be provided for the sake
of brevity.
[0034] The wireless receiver 805 is configured in this example to
compatibly receive the transmissions of the aforementioned wireless
transmitter 206. When the wireless transmitter 206 comprises a
BLUETOOTH.TM.-compatible transmitter, for example, the wireless
receiver 805 can itself comprise a BLUETOOTH.TM.-compatible
receiver.
[0035] The control circuit 801 of this device 800 can be configured
to interpret the received signals from the stylus 200 as regards
the aforementioned detected gestures (with or without the
aforementioned detected stylus operating circumstance) to thereby
facilitate an additional user-input modality by which the user can
control, influence, and effect, for example, the ways by which the
device 800 interprets and utilizes stylus-based scribing input.
[0036] So configured, for example, a user can make changes to the
ways by which the scribing information entered by the stylus 200
serves to influence a presentation of corresponding electronic ink.
These changes can include such things as line width, line color,
line composition (solid versus dashed, for example), geometric
properties (straight line versus freehand, for example), and so
forth.
[0037] Such gestures can also serve, if desired, to switch the
receiving device between various input modes of operation. For
example, the receiving device can be switched back and forth
between a text-entry mode of operation and a drawing mode of
operation as a function of such gesture detection.
[0038] Permitting the user to effect such changes via
stylus-detected gestures, in turn, can preserve limited display
space by avoiding the need to present buttons or the like to
otherwise accommodate such user-based adjustments. These teachings
can also help to avoid a need to access and utilize menu-based
adjustments by permitting the user to directly effect a particular
change via a stylus-detected gesture.
[0039] The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific
forms without departing from its essential characteristics. The
described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as
illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the disclosure is,
therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the
foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and
range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their
scope.
* * * * *